The greatest obstacle to meditation is our expectation about what it should be.

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.

Each moment of noting is a moment of purification, a moment of cultivating the path.

Meditation is like a gym in which you develop the powerful mental muscles of calm and insight.

The root of suffering is resisting the certainty that no matter what the circumstances, uncertainty is all we truly have.

Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else.

To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don't need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.

Meditation is not about getting away from it all. It's about getting into it all.

The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes.

Sticking with uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic—this is the spiritual path.

All that appears and exists, all of samsara and nirvana, has one ground, two paths, and two results. This is the magical display of awareness and unawareness.

The obstacle is the path.

Don't try to change the world. First, change yourself.

By understanding emptiness, one understands all phenomena. Without understanding emptiness, one understands nothing.

Wisdom is not about accumulating knowledge, but about seeing through all knowledge.

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.

The ultimate purpose of Buddhism is to serve and benefit humanity.

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

The force of the kindness of others is so strong, we can't possibly measure it.

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

The door of your heart can only be opened from the inside.

Do not mistake understanding for realization, and do not mistake realization for liberation.

Our defilements are like tame tigers. If you feed them, they're tame. If you stop feeding them, they'll eat you up.

When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.

There are many ways to meditate. But at the heart of them all is mindfulness.

The goal is not to be better than the other man, but your previous self.

The basic idea of Zen is to come in touch with the inner workings of our being, and to do this in the most direct way possible, without resorting to anything external or superadded.

A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.

The real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.

Real happiness comes from having an unshakable connection to the deep wellspring of peace and happiness that is not dependent on external conditions.

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

The most important factor in achieving happiness is the mind. Happiness and suffering are mental states and therefore depend on the mind.

Concentration develops naturally through continuous noting. Don't try to force concentration to arise.